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LYNAR, DONALD A., 59 Gainesville - Donald A. Lynar, MSG, U.S. Army Retired, Age 59, died Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006 at his Gainesville home.
Donald A. Lynar, MSG U.S. Army retired, 59, died Saturday, December 2, 2006, at his Gainesville, Florida home. Mr. Lynar was born to the late Andrew Lynar and Margaret Lynar. He lived in Rockledge from 1991 to 1995 before moving to Gainesville. Mr. Lynar served in the United States Marine Corps 3rd Recognizance Battalion. He had an extensive military career and retired as a Master Sergeant after 22 years of service. He was a highly decorated soldier, earning many awards, some of which included Purple Hearts, Silver Stars and Bronze Stars with Valor and Combat Action Ribbons. Mr. Lynar is survived by his beloved wife, Cynthia Lee Lynar of Gainesville, FL; two daughters, Donna Casey Lynar-Qarana of Rockledge, and Amy Lynn Moffatt of Taylor, MI; son, Benjamin D. Lynar of Pontiac, MI; his mother, Margaret Lynar of Inverness, FL; three brothers, Kevin Lynar of Ft. Lauderdale, Jeffrey Skip Lynar and Michael Lynar, both of Rock ledge; a sister, Vicki Hagerty of Saginaw, MI; and four grandsons. A visitation will be held Monday, December 11th, from 6 to 8 p.m., at Florida Memorial Funeral Home. Funeral Services with full military honors will be held at 11 a.m., Tuesday December 12th, in the funeral home chapel. Entombment will follow at Florida Memorial Gardens.
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Robert (Bob) Hogg
I'm sorry to hear about Don's death. He joined the Marines and went to Viet Nam right away after high school, and did more than one tour of duty there.
He came up to Marquette a couple of times to see me after he got out and told me lots of stories. According to him, at one time he was the senior Marine over there in terms of time in-country, and would have stayed in except that they booted him out for being shot up too many times. I don't know how many Purple Hearts he had. I looked up his obituary and they said he had several as well as multiple Silver Stars, Bronze Stars with Gallantry, etc. He was very highly decorated.
The last time I saw him was at my wedding in January of 1970. Over the years, we lost touch and I would occasionally hear stories that he had become a doctor or something equally improbable. I really had no idea if he was alive or dead, or where he was until I saw his dad's obituary in the Saginaw News 9 or 10 years ago. (Remember “Uncle Don Andrews” on the radio?)
Not too long after that, I got an email out of the blue from Don. It turns out the doctor story wasn't that far from the truth. He had joined the Army, it seems that they had lower standards than the Marine Corps when it came to being shot up multiple times, and after going back to Viet Nam, attended medical school while still in the service. His story was that the Army had screwed it up in some way, and he was unable to finish.
He eventually retired from the armed services to Florida in the Gainesville area and worked as a surgical nurse and also as a free-lance outdoor writer. He made frequent trips to North Dakota, Montana, etc., and wrote stories for outdoor magazines. I never saw any of those stories, I don't know if he used a nom de plume or what.
We carried on an exchange of emails for several years, and while we had significantly differing political and social views, I enjoyed our correspondence. Unfortunately, a few years ago, his emails stopped coming and mine to him bounced. In retrospect, that must have been about the time he died. He had never mentioned to me that he was sick or anything, so it likely was relatively sudden.
I know he was very good friends with Dave McGregor and kept in touch with him. Maybe Dave has more information.
I believe Don's sister, Vicki, still lives in Saginaw.
- Bob Hogg
Robert (Bob) Hogg
Now Don's getting back at me. I've been getting spam emails from him for the last month or so. So I guess there must be an afterlife, I just don't know who's in Hell: him or me.